Online search is a method of using a search engine, which executes on a computer, to search for information that is available in electronic form. Many search engines are presently available for performing online searches.
For example, some search engines, which execute on a server data processing system that is accessible over a data network, can be accessed by client-side component executing on a client data processing system, e.g., a user's computer system. A search application on a client data processing system, which can be accessed via an Application Program Interface (API), a command-line prompt, or some other integration mechanism can also be used on a client data processing system to access the server-side implementation of a search engine. For example, a search application can be a stand-alone interface for accessing the search engine.
As another example, the search application can be integrated into another application to enable the other application to access the search engine. A search bar embedded in a browser application on a client data processing system is one example of such an integrated client-side component.
Hereinafter, “search engine” refers to the server-side implementation of the application that accesses the searchable data and performs a requested search query. Hereinafter, “search application” refers to a client-side application or component, using which a user can send a search term or query to the search engine. A user of a search application can be a human, a hardware system, or a software application.
Typically, a user provides the search application a word, phrase, text snippet, or a string of alphanumeric or symbolic characters, as a search term. The search application communicates the search term to the search engine. The search engine forms a search query using the search term. The search engine accesses data, which comprises a repository of information or an index thereof stored electronically.
The search engine performs the search query on the data and obtains a result set. The result set includes data that corresponds to the search query. The search engine returns the result set to the search application. The search application provides or presents the result set to the user.
A page is an organization of searchable online content. A website or mobile site—includes one or more pages that can be crawled, indexed and searched. An index of the page is searchable data or content corresponding to the page as maintained by a search engine. When a search engine processes a search query, the search engine uses the index of the pages instead of accessing each page to find a match with the query and to return a result set in acceptable time.
A user's human thinking, emotions, feelings, behavior and inherent behavioral aspects make up the user's personality. A user's personality includes several personal traits. Some examples of a user's traits that form the user's personality include curiosity, closeness, excitement, practicality, stability, conservation, adventurousness, intellect, cheerfulness, self-efficacy, self-discipline, outgoing, altruism, modesty, trust, fiery, melancholy, and many others.
Many personality models exist to describe and quantify a person's personality. For example, a hierarchical model of personality traits describes a personality at the highest level as comprising Needs, Values, and Big 5 [personality traits]. Liberty is a type of Needs trait. Hedonism a type of Values trait. Openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional range are five broad types of Big 5 traits. Curiosity, closeness, excitement, practicality, and stability are types of the liberty trait under the Needs trait; conservation is a type of hedonism trait under the Values trait; adventurousness and intellect are types of openness trait in the Big 5 traits; cautiousness and self-discipline are types of conscientiousness traits under the Big 5 traits; self-efficacy is a trait that can be a type of conscientiousness or extraversion trait under the Big 5 traits; cheerfulness and outgoing are types of extraversion trait under the Big 5 traits; altruism and modesty are types of agreeableness trait under the Big 5 traits; trust can be a type of agreeableness or emotional range trait under the Big 5 traits; fiery and melancholy are types of emotional range trait under the Big 5 traits.
Hundreds of personality traits can similarly be identified and organized into different categories or groups. Many different personality models organize these and many other traits in this and other manner.
An existing model can determine a person's traits, compute a value for a trait, and compile a set of personality data for the person. Personality data includes a trait and its corresponding value. A set of personality data includes a set of traits and a corresponding set of trait values.